Chapter 23: Chapter 23

An alpha version of the game was ready two days before the streamers arrived. This was our first time hosting people to try out our game. The only ones that have played it so far were us in the company. We wanted to have a small group of our friends and family test the game out as well, but that was planned to happen after we revealed the game to the world.

Today twenty people entered our company for the first time. Their group was a mix of men and women from various age groups. All were popular streamers that played a variety of MMORPG's.

"Welcome to Raven Games, I'm the CEO Alex Scott. How did you all sleep last night? Hopefully, your rooms were comfortable." I said as I greeted the twenty streamers.

After they agreed to sight an NDA, I had my secretary book them tickets to fly out here and put them in a nice hotel nearby.

"It was fine, but when do we get to test the game?" One of the male streamers asked. He played WoW and showed off a lot of PvP content which garnered him a lot of fans.

"Soon. First one of our lead developers, Johnathan, will tell you about the game." As I said that, Johnathan turned to look at the large group.

"First I would like to thank you all for taking the time to come here to alpha test our game. We want you to feel immersed in the world of Rindor not only as a player, but as an inhabitant. That is why we pushed to have a system for gamers that do not enjoy fighting, they don't have to. They can instead take up one of our games professions to progress through the ranks and provide the necessary material and gear for those that need it. But, we also understand that there are many that love engaging in combat, to feel the thrill of battle. Which is why we strive to bring you the best combat experience possible. Not a plain combat system where you click on a target to attack or heal them. Where the monsters show you the direction they are going to attack in. Our system wants the world to feel more real to help with the immersion, that's why our game is fully action combat based. All skills need to be aimed in a direction, every skill has a specific range, and when our monsters attack you, you won't know which direction the attack will come from. Some monsters have slower movement so you can tell, but there are those that have a higher attack speed. Monsters that roam in packs will attack as one." Johnathan paused to let everything sink in.

From my view I could see how their expressions slightly changed. These streamers were more interested than before.

"Is this all for the single-player game based off that novel?" One of the few female streamers asked. She was a popular streamer that role-played in Perfect World.

"No. We are developing an MMORPG with these concepts, but our single-player game takes some of these same features." Johnathan replied to her.

Hearing this surprised them. I understood since we never told them what type of game they would try out for us. The only game that the public knew about was our single-player one. There was a common misconception that MMORPG's could be developed and ready to publish within a short time frame. That was untrue as it took years of development, and even after all that time put into the game it could still fail. For them, hearing our announcement of this MMORPG was a shock. I could tell that a few of them knew that the process for making a proper game was a long one, which is why their expressions changed to one of disappointment.

"How many classes are there?" Another streamer asked.

"There will be a total of twenty at release, but today you will only have ten available to try out." Johnathan answered.

He waited a little bit longer and when more questions emerged, he answered them. Once that was finished, we started walking to the alpha room on the first floor. Initially, it was a large meeting room, but we altered it a bit. Now we had computers with our game installed on it. The main table was removed and replaced with long wooden tables that were placed against the wall. There was enough room for everyone to have their own space. Although this room was not connected with fiber optics, so the net was a bit slower here.

"Here is the space you will all try out the game in. You'll be here for six hours a day, but can freely take as many breaks as you want. Within a set limitation of course. Food is free, so are snacks. If you need anything Ashley will try to get it for you. She'll come by every thirty minutes or so to check on how things are going." I told them.

"Everything is subject to change, and at the end of each session, we would like to hear your feedback. If you do encounter any problems right away, then I'll be here to solve them." Johnathan added.

Everyone sat down and started up the game. There was no login screen for them since everything was already programmed to go into the character creation process. It would be there when the game was released, but we took it out for the players convenience. I also planned on staying around to watch for a few hours.

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They would only be here for three days, but that should be more than enough time to test out a lot of the features. The only features we had in the game so far were the ones that were finished or close to be finished. Meaning that a lot of the mechanics behind it were done, but the resources needed for specific uses were not added into the system. Or the finished product was not there.

"Why are there questions here? Is there a purpose for it?" Someone asked.

"It's for the immersion. You are creating a character, but that avatar of yours has a background. The background will determine a lot about your character and even recommend what is best suited for you. It's just a recommendation so there is no need to go with it.

"Ah, alright." He said as I watched him just speed through the questions. I chuckled to myself and wondered what kind of character he would have.

"Are these really the graphics? I haven't seen anything this detailed in any games. There are so many sliders for the body, I wish WoW did something like this."

Looking around, I saw that there were a few that actually took the time to read the questions. Most of the players just skipped it along with the customization. One man looked back at us and I could see that he was confused.

"Where do we get classes?"

"After choosing your faction, you'll be able to acquire it during the first part of the story." Johnathan replied.

For some reason, I was excited to know what they would say about our game. It was my first game, and I hoped that they enjoyed it. There were a lot of features that just did not exist in games at this point in time. Would they be perceived well? Or would they just be too much for gamers to handle right now?

The entire game was action combat, with everything being a skill shot. It was a difficult system to implement, especially for healers. The role-playing streamer ended up picking a support class but found it to be harder than what she thought. Monsters ran around and just did not stay still. To do damage to them you needed to land your abilities, and I watched as a few of them had to adjust. Especially the few that played ranged classes.

For those in melee, combat was a bit easier.

I could see the frustration when they missed an ability that only caused them to press their buttons harder. One of the warriors from the Kingdom of Heaven could grapple their opponent. From there, you could toss them into the air or slam them into the ground. Everyone gamed in silence for the majority of the session. With a few asking questions here and there, but nothing major.

We wanted them to try out PvP as well, and those that were into that kind of content loved it. All in all, I thought everything played out well on the first day. They forgot the time and when they were supposed to be finished playing for the day, they all forgot the time. We gave them an hour break to stretch and get some food into their systems before we sat down with them for feedback.

 

 

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